1999 Issues
Volume III | Number 1 | January/February 1999
Departments
Editorial
This I Do Resolve
Richard Benyo
January is traditionally a time to make resolutions for personal improvement for the upcoming year. But resolution-making is also something of a running joke in that few if any resolutions last into the first week of February. Yet we continue to make resolutions. Either we are brave enough never to lose hope, or we are deluding ourselves.
Marathoners, of course, are a different breed of folks. No mere mortals, they. To be able to run a marathon successfully takes a certain resolve, and part of this is that you must be committed to honoring your resolutions. Sixteen or eighteen weeks of concerted training does not come easily to the lackadaisical.
As 1999 approaches, it seems a good time to look back over the past 20 years and pull out an even 10 resolutions which, once they were accomplished, paid off for me. Maybe they can pay off for you, too. The resolutions are listed in the chronological sequence they were made, committed to, and experienced. . . .
Continued in the January/February issue
On the Road with Roger Robinson
Travel with Roger from race to race as he shares his view from inside the world of long-distance running.
My Most Unforgettable Ultramarathon (And What I Learned From It)
Theresa Daus-Weber
LEADVILLE, COLORADO, August 15–16, 1992–"Turn off your flashlight!" I barked in a loud whisper to Frank, my pacer. We were just coming off a short, rocky descent protected by trees, and onto an exposed section of dirt road about 93 miles into the Leadville Trail 100. It was nearly 2:00 a.m., and I was leading the women’s race on a full-moon night. We didn’t really need flashlights on this part of the course, and I was worried that Sue Ellen Trapp, a competitive and experienced 100-mile trail racer whom I had last seen at mile 52, was making up time on me and would be motivated if she saw my flashlight. She had been about 20 minutes behind at the last aid station.
Continued in the January/February issue
Grandma’s Marathon
The "City of Many Treasures" Lives Up to Its Title for Marathoners.
Grandma’s scored the highest total in the M&B 1000-point evaluation scale. Read all about Grandma’s in the January/February issue.
Letters
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions
About the Authors
This issue’s authors include Gail Waesche Kislevitz, Theresa Daus-Weber, Frank Horwill, Jim Ferstle, and Jim Hage.
Features
Minnesota Mafia
The Land of 10,000 Lakes—and a few good marathoners.
Jim Ferstle
Minnesota’s motto is printed on every automobile license plate in the state: Land of 10,000 Lakes. You could easily add, and a few good marathoners—though some might dispute the word "few," as it seems that every time the Olympics roll around, a Minnesotan is in contention for a spot on the U.S. team. This Minnesota tradition began in 1964 with a determined school teacher named Leonard "Buddy" Edelen, and it continued through 1996 with Dr. Bob Kempainen. In between Edelen and Kempainen have been so many greats that we Minnesotans are often asked how our state produces such good marathon runners….
Read about the great tradition of marathoning in Minnesota in the January/February issue.
Whither the Marathon
As part of its 20th-anniversary race last March, the Sutter Home Napa Valley Marathon sponsored a roundtable discussion on the "state" of marathoning, past and present. Read what the legendary Joe Henderson, Amby Burfoot, Jeff Galloway, Kathrine Switzer, Dick Beardsley, and Don Kardong had to say.
A Finnish Inferno
Down and out in the land where the sun never sets on Paavo Nurmi.
Jim Hage
Have you heard the one about the Finn who loved his wife so much he almost told her? Okay, okay, we’re all aware that unfair and insensitive cultural stereotypes only perpetuate societal biases, encourage shallow thinking, yada, yada, yada. Well, last summer, I ran the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Turku, Finland, proudly donning my red, white, and blue USA uniform. Twenty miles into that race, and slogging along in the survival shuffle, I provided the hardy Finns a chance to console and encourage an obviously faltering foreigner. A Russian selling week-old smelt would have been made to feel more welcome. I trudged on to the finish line, pondering what offense I could possibly have committed to merit such a frigid reception.
Finnish reserve may be a product of that country’s long and bitterly cold winters. It may have its roots in Finnish history, through which Finns have been whipsawed between the imperial powers of Sweden and Tsarist Russia. Finnish culture—neither Scandinavian nor Russian—remains as unique as their vowel-laden language. But despite their collective indifference, I found it hard to begrudge a people whose generic greeting is "Hei"…
For the humorous conclusion to Jim Hage’s piece, subscribe today.
Maximize Yourself
Increase your VO2max and lactate threshold.
Frank Horwill
A Willingness to Suffer
Ted Corbitt, a pioneer of ultramarathoning, recounts his ultra-amazing career.
Gail Waesche Kislevitz
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part III of this reprinted edition of DeMar’s autobiography. Running takes a backseat for a few years, as the would-be Boston Marathon legend turns Boy Scout master and soldier.
After returning from Stockholm and getting back into my old habits of self-supervised training I finished the year by running some pretty good races. For instance, I recall winning a 10-mile on a track one evening in Haverhill, Mass., under fifty-seven minutes. I remember, also, receiving a letter from Mr. William Jepson, who taught a young men’s Bible class in Melrose, of which I was a member, who spoke highly of this race. After a year of seeming failure it was encouraging to do some little thing that people thought had merit….
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
Volume III | Number 2 | March/April 1999
Departments
Editorial
Hard Choices
Richard Benyo
On the Road with Roger Robinson
Travel with Roger from race to race as he shares his view from inside the world of long-distance running.
NEW YORK, November 1, 1998—"Kagwe, two-eight-forty-fiva," one of my newly acquired Mexican friends said suddenly. "Then Chebet, three second." We were nearly three miles away from the finish line, busily cheering the runners as they streamed or struggled past the Reservoir, near the 90th Street entrance to Central Park. The 2:25 to 2:30 finishers were passing at that moment. It had been 15 minutes since the leaders hurtled by, three of them almost instep, locked together. "How do you know that?" I began to ask, astonished, but then I noticed the radio wire leading to his right ear. I still have a lot to learn about the art of being a marathon spectator.
Continued in the March/April 1999 issue
My Most Unforgettable Marathon (And What I Learned From It)
Scott Douglas
Boston, Massachusetts, April 15, 1996—"You can do it!"
I slid my eyes to the right and realized the woman was shouting at me. A millisecond of eye contact encouraged her to encourage me again. "C’mon, you can do it!" I returned my eyes to the road and thought, in my usual smug way, "Depends what you want me to do. Stand here and crane my neck? Sure. Finish the marathon? Can do. Find one very thin man among 38,000 marathoners? Well, that’s another matter."
This piece will make you laugh and cry. Check out the March/April issue
for the rest of the story.
Calgary Marathon
The Wild West Lives Not Only in History Books. It Lives, Breathes, and Snorts
in Alberta.
Letters
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions
About the Authors
This issue’s authors include Scott Douglas, George Sheehan, III, Jeff Hagen, and
Johnny J. Kelley.
Features
The Best of the Best
The top 10 male and female marathoners of all time. No Top 10 list comes without its share of controversy and compromise. The envelope, please!
The Top 10 Male and Female Marathoners of All Time. The concept sounds at once overly simple and simply portentous. How can anyone fairly pick the best marathoners of all time when the sport has been practiced for more than a century? Many of the legends and legends-in-progress have never raced against each other and never will, and the eras in which they raced are as different as Athens 1896 and Atlanta 1996. And how about Pheidippides, the sport’s patron saint? Does he qualify? He did his best running more than two millennia ago and was technically an ultramarathoner who on occasion stepped down to what was to become the marathon.
How can anyone compare the rutted, hilly 1896 Athens Olympics course with the flat and fast 1996 Rotterdam course? How about comparing the challenges of racing in Pheidippides’s sandals to Clarence DeMar’s patent leather walking shoes? Or Jim Peters’ plimsoles to today’s high-tech pillows for the feet? Or the advantage of modern marathoners armed with today’s nutrition knowledge with the steak-and-eggs training table of 1924? And, for that matter, how about training itself? Is it fair to compare marathoners who in 1912 trained by instinct against post-Lydiard runners who trained by proven scientific methods?
Which runners made our Top 10 list? Find out in our March/April issue.
The Boston Experience
For years the author’s father fired up the troops at Boston. He also managed to fire up his offspring.
George Sheehan, III
Learning to Run on the Wind
Some lessons are learned the hard way, while others are prone to come unbidden. This is the third in an exclusive series of marathon memoirs by Johnny J. "The Younger" Kelley of Mystic, Connecticut.
Johnny J. Kelley
Jogging in light rain from our 477 Beacon Street, Back Bay apartment to Hayes-Bickford’s Harvard Square, Cambridge, cafeteria, my inward eye remains where it has centered for the past six weeks: on the approaching 56th Boston Marathon.
But my reverie swirls with images of a grim face, never seen, nor, as of now, to be seen by me in the flesh. It is mid-afternoon on Sunday, March 8, 1953. The marathon comes due on Monday, April 20th, this year.
News has filtered out of the Kremlin, 7,000 miles away: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has died. I see the grim, mustachioed visage squinting from every tabloid on Central Square’s news racks.
Was the purported murderer of 21,000,000 the victim of a heart attack, or did he get his final payment stamped "in kind?" In fact, for a 22-year-old American male, a just-married college student, even Josef Stalin’s life or death poses no more than a piece to be fitted into the ever-emerging puzzle. For there will still be the Korean meat-grinder, the "Cold War," the bomb, the military draft, Senator Joe McCarthy. . . .
What’re ya gonna do, boy?
Cambridge’s Sunday drivers splash almost languidly along Mass. Ave. as I tackle my single, gentle uphill over undulating sidewalk bricks. Shaking plausibly dry in Hayes-Bickford’s Cafeteria before taking my place behind the glass counter, I see our hard-bitten cook, Pete, cursing at his grill. Pete’s making it through the day okay, though, with his trusty flask, the easy sprinkling of Sunday pm customers, and his rub-the-world’s-face-in-it attitude.
"He-e-ey, Johnny," he yells. "What’re ya gonna do, boy?"
"Hey, Pete. Whataya mean, what’m I gonna do?"
"Papa Joe’s dead," Pete says. "Ka-poot! Now ya gotta beat them Rooskis in the marathon."
"Oh jeeze, Peter. No ‘Rooskies in the marathon,’" I say.
Pete steals a swig before flipping his ham hash. "Then who ya gonna beat, boy?"
"Beat? Pete. I just gotta finish. That’s the goal," I dodge, knotting on my counterhop’s apron.
"Ain’t the way I hear it, Johnny-boy. I see in today’s paper, you’re gonna be ‘America’s Only Hope.’ Don’t you read the sports?"
"Ah, you know how that goes, Pete. They got nothing else to write."
"Could be they got nobody else to run?" Pete shoots back.
Damn flask. I spy a couple of customers eyeing me suspiciously. Pete keeps his needle working. "Boy, ya gotta beat them Japs! Ya gotta beat them Finns! Ya gotta beat some Swede, by yumpin’ yiminy!"
I’ve half-turned to confront the needler when I’m spun around by an unamused voice. "I won’t eat my hash burned to a crisp," it informs me.Have you heard the one about the Finn who loved his wife so much he almost told her? Okay, okay, we’re all aware that unfair and insensitive cultural stereotypes only perpetuate societal biases, encourage shallow thinking, yada, yada, yada. Well, last summer, I ran the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Turku, Finland, proudly donning my red, white, and blue USA uniform. Twenty miles into that race, and slogging along in the survival shuffle, I provided the hardy Finns a chance to console and encourage an obviously faltering foreigner. A Russian selling week-old smelt would have been made to feel more welcome. I trudged on to the finish line, pondering what offense I could possibly have committed to merit such a frigid reception.
These Johnny J. Kelley memoirs are sure to become a collector’s item.
To get your own copy,
subscribe to Marathon & Beyond today.
The 24-Hour Track Race
A strategic approach to this mystical event can assure consistent success..
Jeff Hagen
Nine Keys to a Successful 24-Hour Track Race
1. Walking strategy
2. Specific training
3. Proper pacing
4. Adequate eating and drinking
5. Frequent stretching
6. An excellent crew
7. Staying on the move
8. Maintaining focus
9. Paying attention to the little things
Jeff Hagen IS the man to coach you through your first 24-hour track race.
Within a period of 28 weeks he ran five 24-hour races (Pacific Rim, Sri Chinmoy-Seattle, FANS, Greg and Delmar’s Adventure Run,
and Megan’s Run) plus the Mt. Rushmore 100-Mile Trail Run, finishing first overall in all six events. Read the wisdom he
shares about the Nine Keys in our March/April issue.
The Healing Touch
Knead a massage? It might just be what your running is lacking.
Gail Waesche Kislevitz
On Monday mornings, Bill Rodgers runs out the door and starts another day of his grueling 90-mile a week running schedule. But Mondays are different from Bill’s other days. For 18 years, he has counted on this one aspect of his training to help get him through all the rest. We’re not talking about speed work or hill work now—we’re referring to Bill’s massage work.
After spending his weekends flying around the country competing in two races, Bill looks forward to his Monday-morning massage. He swears by his weekly deep-muscle therapy, a routine he started 18 years ago when he was doing 200 miles a week, winning the Boston and New York City Marathons four times each. The weekly massages help him recover from the rigorous training and keeps him injury free. "I need those massages!," Bill maintains. "I wish I could go every day. I also feel they are a kind of psychological soother, a healing type of feeling that rejuvenates my mind and my body."
Learn more about what massage can do for your running in the March/April issue.
The "City of Light" Does Marathon Lite
For a city of 10 million, Paris stages its marathon with a rather casual elan.
Marion E. Raycheba
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part IV of this reprinted edition of DeMar’s autobiography. A second period of rest leads to a resurgence of interest and more winning ways for Clarence DeMar at the BAA Marathon.
Before New Year’s Day, 1922, I had decided to run the B.A.A. marathon again. I followed my usual practice of slow training. I would run the four and one half miles to Medford and back four or five times a week and ride by bicycle the other times. I’d also take a couple of evenings and do two or three laps around Spot Pond (about five miles to a lap). I found that I could stand more work and get less fatigued than ever before. That season I didn’t seem to overdo the training slightly so that I’d have to rest up two or three days. All winter I had but one slight cold and in those days I was apt to have a couple. I felt very confident that I was pretty good but I never ran faster than eight miles per hour. Just once, several weeks before April 19, I went out to Wellesley Square and ran as fast as I could to the finish, then jogged to Melrose. I did the fourteen miles from Wellesley to the finish in one hour, eighteen minutes. I figured that I could run from Ash-land to Wellesley in an hour and then by calling on my reserves and with the excitement could do the last fourteen miles pretty close to what I had done in practice. That is just about the way it came out, too….
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
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Volume III | Number 3 | May/June 1999
Departments
Editorial
Good. Better. Best.
Richard Benyo
On the Road with Scott Douglas
Travel with Scott from race to race as he shares his view from inside the world of long-distance running.
Was I surprised to be offered the “On the Road” column in Marathon & Beyond? You could say that.
After all, I have yet to be named as a candidate to fill Doug Kurtis’s slot on the frequent-flier list. In 20 years of running, I’ve completed five marathons. Only three of those did I try to race, the last in 1991. As for my “and beyond” qualifications, I dropped out of the one ultra I started, a 50-miler back in the early days of the Reagan presidency, when I drank too much apple juice and threw up at mile 27.
So, let’s just say when Johnny Kelley lies awake worrying about threats to his Boston Marathon frequency record, I’m not in his mind’s eye.
But don’t stop reading just yet. Is it really necessary to continually cook in the crucible to comment knowingly on it? I would hope that a forecaster with the National Weather Service would have flown through the eye of a hurricane a few times, but I wouldn’t demand that she hop in a plane every time the wind kicks up to be able to tell me if I need an umbrella. I would trust that with the right experience, she could note significant developments from afar. Such is my reasoning for thinking that I can fill the heady marathon shoes of this column’s progenitors, Kathrine Switzer and Roger Robinson.
It’s not like I’m completely green. I’ve written professionally about running since 1991. I’ve been in the enviable position of getting paid to cover such epic marathons as the windblown mass sprint of Boston ’94, the World Championships the following year, and the 1996 Olympics. I’ve watched and written about many of the smaller 26.2-milers, and as the former editor of Running Times, I count myself as pretty adept at checking running’s pulse, no heart rate monitor needed.
Oh, and should I mention that Bill Rodgers once slept in my bed?
Continued in the May/June 1999 issue
My Most Unforgettable Ultramarathon (And What I Learned From It)
Helen Klein
WASATCH MOUNTAINS, UTAH, September 9-10, 1989—Due to circumstances somewhat beyond my control, I came to running late in life. As a consequence, perhaps, I have an intense appreciation of the benefits and blessings of running that might elude some people who have been running most of their lives. I began running because of a challenge and have stayed active all these years because the challenge seems always to renew itself in interesting and wonderful ways.
Allow me to backtrack a little:
In 1978, at the age of 55, I was living with my husband in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. That year, a friend challenged us to prepare for and compete in a 10-mile race. At that time, such a thing was totally out of context for a mature woman of the south. Indeed, very few Kentucky women ran (unless they were chasing a child), and even fewer competed. This was true even of young women, and here I was, old enough to be a grandmother!
Helen Klein’s running life–including a Grand Slam in 1989 and too many world and national age-group records
to mention–started at age 55. Her story will inspire you to get out for a run today and everyday.
Check out the May/June issue for the rest of the story.
Portland Marathon
The Race Attempts to Be All Things to All People, While Its Race Director Makes It All Look Too Easy.
Letters
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions
About the Authors
This issue’s authors include Pete Pfitzinger, MS, Julia Emmons, Dr. Perry Julien, and David E. Martin, PhD.
Features
A Velvet Marathon in a City Fantastic
Much of What Goes Down in the Czech Republic Began in a Pub. So, Too, Prague’s Marathon.
Don Mogelefsky
Like many great ideas that originated in the Czech Republic, the Prague International Marathon was born in a pub. One night in November 1994, an Italian husband and wife, Carlo Capalbo and Maria Vittoria Mastrostefano, decided to go to Cibulka, a cozy, neighborhood pub, to partake in the national pastime (no, not baseball) with a few friends.
After a Pilsner Urquell or two, Mastrostefano suggested the wild idea of organizing a marathon in Prague—an idea that had been growing in the back of her mind since the previous May, when she’d run in one of the huge Stramilano races in Italy.
Her suggestion was met with something less than unbridled enthusiasm.
“Most of the people there thought she was either joking or completely crazy,” recalls her husband. “But the more I thought about the idea, the more I liked it.”
Take a behind the scenes look at one of the most picturesque marathons in the world.
A By-the-Book Approach to the Marathon
Improve Your Performance with a Physiology-Based Program. This article includes three different 18-week marathon training
programs, one for runners completing fewer than 40 miles per week, one for runners doing 40 to 60 miles per week, and a third for runners
training over 60 miles per week. Your fall marathon training program is HERE!
Pete Pfitzinger, MS, and Scott Douglas
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Sydney 2000: A Virtual Tour
The Verdict: A Grand Course Through a Great and Beautiful City.
Julia Emmons, Director of the 1996 Men’s and Women’s Olympic Marathons
The Sydney Olympic Games are scheduled for September 15 to October 1. The women’s marathon is slotted for a 7:45 start on Sunday morning, September 24, and the men’s for a 4:00 start on
Sunday afternoon, October 1st, with the men’s finish in the Olympic Stadium to be the kickoff for the closing ceremonies,
thus assuring the IAAF’s overweeningly self-important President, Primo Nebiolo, will give out the final medal of the Games.
Mid-September is spring in Sydney (in contrast to the Barcelona and Atlanta Games, which were both in high summer),
where the average low temperature is in the low 50s, so the women have every chance of good running weather in
the morning. And with an average afternoon high in the mid-60s, the men will be better off than they were in either
Barcelona (high 80s at the start) or Atlanta (high 60s and humid). Sydney will be a distance runner’s Olympics.
The Sydney marathon will be run on a point-to-point course crafted by Olympic marathon director Dave Cundy, a
distinguished race director and course measurer of international repute. The course begins in North Sydney, crosses the
famed Sydney Harbor Bridge, cuts through the historical district, heads through eastern suburbs, and turns around and
retraces through the center of town before heading west to the Olympic stadium in Homebush. It accomplishes the near
impossible, adroitly meeting the demands of nearly all the powers that be. Most important, it places the athlete first,
avoiding hills and turns whenever possible, resulting in a relatively flat, straight course that, if the weather is cool, should
shave minutes off the times posted in Barcelona and Atlanta.
To best burrow into the soul of the course, I decided to walk every meter save the couple of kilometers on freeway,
starting at the beginning and working toward the finish; I thus covered in a dozen hours what the runners will cover in a
little over two. My companion for much of this trek was Julian Scott, a long-ago friend from my high school days in
Canberra, where my diplomat father had been posted. Scott, an acclaimed marathoner who has taught school in Sydney
for many years, proved an invaluable guide to both the city and the effect the course will likely have on the Olympians.
Join Julia Emmons on this guided tour of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Marathon course. No kilometer is
left unturned!
All About Achilles
Everything You Need to Know About That All-Important Tendon
Perry Julien, DPM
To get your own copy, of the May/June 1999 issue, Subscribe to Marathon & Beyond today.
Two Marathoners, Four Olympic Golds
Abebe Bikila Redefined Marathon Racing; Waldemar Cierpinski Added Two Gold Medals and Controversy.
Frank Horwill
A Collaboration That Works
Using High-Tech Testing to Help Our Best Distance Runners Improve Their Training and Racing.
This Knowledge Can Benefit Others as Well.
David E. Martin, PhD
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part V of this reprinted edition of DeMar’s autobiography. DeMar Does It His Way in the 1924 Olympics.
Back Home, He Dominates Local and B.A.A. Fields For Years. .
There were six runners and one substitute on the 1924 Olympic marathon team. They were Chuck Mellor of Chicago,
Frank Zuna of Newark, New Jersey, Frank Wendling of Buffalo, William Churchill of San Francisco, the American
Finns—Carl Linder and Ralph Williams—of Quincy, Massachusetts, and myself. Presumably Williams was the sub,
since he had made the poorest showing in the try out, but that remained to be seen.
After my disastrous experience with the Olympic organization in 1912 and with the history of the boys’ troubles in1920
still ringing in my ears, I determined to get better conditions for success in 1924. Lawson Robertson of Pennsylvania was
head coach.
So at the Baltimore race early in March I nailed Robertson, saying that if I went to Paris I wouldn’t put up with any
nonsense from coaches. He cordially agreed, saying that he had had cross-country runners at Pennsylvania who did better
alone. I also wrote to like Ryan then at Colby, who was again to be the Marathon coach, that he must not bother me on
the trip. Finally, he replied that there would be no trouble…
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
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Volume III | Number 4 | July/August 1999
Departments
Editorial
Puzzle Pieces
Richard Benyo
Despite what Forrest Gump’s mother contended, life really isn’t much like a box of chocolates. It’s more a jigsaw puzzle of
odd-sized pieces that interconnect in such a way that even when dozens of pieces are missing the big picture can be
clearly seen. This was the analogy we faced as we worked over the past several months to put together what we’ve been
calling The Encyclopedia Marathonia, a collection of roughly 200 encyclopedia listings related to the marathon,
each limited to 25 words or less. Our goal was to construct a (relatively) clear picture of the marathon as an event made
up mostly of very real, very human people.
Continued in the July/August issue
On the Road with Scott Douglas
An Uncharitable View
Last spring, a woman in my office came by cap in hand a few months before the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. She was one of
the legions doing the inaugural event as a first-timer to raise money for a charity. Happy that the office conversation had,
ever so briefly, moved beyond the brevity of the previous weekend and what the following day’s weather might hold, I gave her a check for $52.40.
“That’s an odd amount,” she told me.
“Umm, divide $52.40 by 2 and you get . . . ?”
“$26.20.”
“Right . . . $26.20 . . . 26.2 dollars . . .”
Blank stare. I tried again. “26.2 dollars . . . 26.2 miles in a marathon.”
“Oh, that’s right” she said, her face lighting up. ” I forgot how far it is.”
Read Scott’s “take” on the Charity Runner in our July/August issue.
My Most Unforgettable Ultramarathon (And What I Learned From It): Wasatch 100
Joe Prusaitis
Fox Cities Marathon
Truly a Community Event in the Heart of Packerland, This Top Midwest Race Offers Something for Everyone.
Fall means football—namely, NFL and the Packers—for the 14 communities along the Fox River collectively known as
the Fox Cities, one of Wisconsin’s fastest growing areas (now over 200,000 residents). Fortunately for the 2,500+ runners
who travel to the area each September for a festival of races, these Packer-loving residents also know how to host one
heck of a marathon.
How “big” are the Packers in the Fox Cities, which lies just 30 miles southwest of Green Bay? Consider this: if the Packer’s
home game scheduled on race day 1999 had a noon start, “we would have changed the marathon’s start time from 8:00 a.m.
to 7:00 a.m,” says race director, Bret Younger. He’s serious. Here in the Fox Cities you don’t interfere with the Packers—at least
not successfully. During the 1998 race, the finish line announcer piped in Packer updates in between names of finishing
marathoners. In fact, Packermania is so strong here that at one water station you’ll feel as if you’re really on Green Bay’s
Lambeau Field.
Simply put, here in the Fox Cities, the Packers are HUGE. But not to worry: with the scheduled 3:15 P.M. Packers-Vikings home game this
year, residents can spectate or volunteer at a water stop or the finish line and still be home in time for the pregame show. There should even
be time to drive to Green Bay for the game—which an estimated 1 in 10 Fox Cities residents will do.
Check out the July/August issue for the rest of the Fox Cities Profile.
Letters
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions. This month’s question:
I live in Pennsylvania and have access to lots of mountains, which I greatly enjoy running all year-round. I’m 38 and have
run a dozen marathons, none of them faster than 3:33. A friend keeps telling me that I’d be a lot faster in marathons if I
gave up some of my mountain running and concentrated on doing hillwork at a more modest angle than the mountainsides
I love. Is there any evidence that this guy’s right?
Our experts answer this question in our July/August issue.
About the Authors
Among this issue’s authors are Michael L. Sachs, PhD and Bruce Cohen, MS; Mary Trotto,EdD, PT;
Joe Oakes, Michael Duncan, and Mel Bloom.
Features
The Essential Encyclopedia of Marathoning
For the digest-oriented, a manual of essential marathon listings, each held to 25 words or less.
Richard Benyo
A
Adidas. Major German sport shoe manufacturer well-known throughout the world but able to get only tentative toe-hold in the U.S.
market.
AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Road Races). Group of concerned marathon directors banded together
to promote, market, and standardize marathons throughout the known universe.
air sole.Late 1970s Nike solution to providing ultimate impact protection for distance runners while buoying
Nike sales through the 1980s, especially in basketball via “Air Jordan.”
AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). Governing body of amateur U.S. sports in 1970s, aka “Antiquated Attitudes
Updated” as it struggled through women’s rights to compete in distance events.
Anderson, John Robert “Bob” (see Distance Running News, Runner’s World). Eccentric, prickly Kansan
boy who pioneered many of today’s taken-for-granted institutions, including Runner’s World (originally Distance
Running News, 1966-69), race expos, Corporate Cup, and more.
In the July/August issue, you can check out the other listings in this one-of-a-kind
marathon encyclopedia.
Dos Amigos
A tale of addiction, recovery, running, and the Boston Marathon
Luis Martinez and Steve DePolito, with Roger Zotti
Consider this: before 1994, Luis Martinez was so messed up on heroin, cocaine, and alcohol that some days he lacked
the strength to walk the few steps from his bedroom to the bathroom. Now, Luis is alcohol- and drug-free, and he has
pursued running with the passion he once put into maintaining his addiction.
My Son, The Runner
Sometimes we encourage our children to do things that confound us, simply
because they are ours and we love them.
Mel Bloom
The Inca Way
In Peru to experience the Northern Andes, the runner encounters gripping tales of lost treasure and
sights unforgettable.
Michael Duncan
We had been traveling nearly six hours, heading north by bus from Lima. For the last 90 minutes we had been
climbing east into the mountains. A perpetual gloom shrouds the coast of Peru for five months each winter—something to
do with the warm Pacific currents suddenly encountering South America and the cold air of the Andes.
The higher we went, the clearer the sky became, finally taking on the deep blue hue of high altitude. As we topped the
pass, we came upon a scene that struck me as a good omen. In the foreground were several hundred square miles of
altiplano, the high plateau country that makes up the bulk of the Andes. Towering on the horizon from north to south were
a series of snow-capped peaks, glaciers sliding down their sides. And presiding over it all was a statue of St. Francis,
patron saint of my hometown, San Francisco. St. Francis had his arms raised protectively over an Andean condor and
a llama. All the indicators were there—this was going to be a great trip!
A little background.
In the spring of 1997, a friend and I were looking for an adventure vacation. We wanted to combine running with travel to
a remote spot outside the United States. I found an article about a trip running the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu. It sounded
like just what we were looking for.
We signed up and spent two wonderful weeks in Southern Peru exploring the region near Cusco. What made the trip
work was Devy Reinstein, the owner of Andes Adventures. He’s Peruvian, so understands the culture. He also handles
complicated logistics with ease. And, most important, he knows where all the best restaurants are hiding. Hunger was
never a problem on his expedition.
Devy and I kept in contact through the winter. Three years earlier he had made a solo run around a remote mountain
range in northern Peru called the Cordillera Huayhuash. In the summer of 1998 he decided to test the region as a
possible destination to expand his program of adventure running vacations. He rounded up four volunteers, including
myself, to be his guinea pigs. (Note: In Peru, roasted guinea pigs are a delicacy.) The plan was to run two separate loops
over 136 miles with a total altitude gain of 32,200 feet and a loss of 29,900 feet! We’d test the logistics, run the miles,
try out the lodgings, and get in one hell of an adventure!
Join Mike and the others on this incredible run in the Northern
Andes
To get your own copy, of the July/August 1999 issue, Subscribe to
Marathon & Beyond today.
Man’s Best Friend Ate My Running Shoes. . .
and other reasons for not training for a marathon.
Michael L. Sachs, PhD and Bruce Cohen, MS
Unless you’ve been living in a cave the last 20 years, you’ve probably seen, if not read, dozens of articles on reasons
to run. Most of us know and appreciate the many physiological and psychological aspects of our lives enhanced by
running. Sometimes, though, if you’re like the rest of us, your motivation wanes. You find yourself in a slump, a valley of
decrepitude, wallowing in sedentary contrariness, fed upon by the dreaded couch-potato virus—or, worse yet, the vile
Internet-potato virus. Yes, that’s you: www.can’tgetoffmybutt.com. It can be difficult to extricate ourselves from the morass,
and sometimes it’s just plain impossible. What do we say on these occasions? How do we answer our seemingly
sympathetic friends when they ask us why we’re not running? Somehow the most honest response—”I just don’t feel like it”—is
the hardest to admit. We are runners, after all. Why in the world would we not want to run?
But there must be something we can say during our down times, something a la MAD magazine’s snappy answers to
stupid questions.
To help you through awkward times—should you ever suffer them—we’re pleased to provide this list of the Top 10
Reasons for Not Running. We hope to save you time, energy, and frustration and cut down on those long, clumsy
explanations (well, you see, it’s not that anything’s wrong exactly . . . it’s just that, well, you know, I’ve been extra
busy with work, and my kids are at the age when they need extra time, and, well, it’s just hard to fit everything in,
so something had to, you know, go . . .)
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Force Facts
Overtraining injuries occur when we do too much for too long to the same body parts.
Mary Trotto, EdD, PT
Fifty Years on the Run
You run and you run and you run, and you look back over the path you’ve taken and find you’ve run forever.
Joe Oakes
It was in September of 1948 that Howie Borck told me I was a lousy shot-putter. I had a perfect 2-0 record in the
135-pound subnovice Golden Gloves. I though I was as tough as nails.
But Howie took me by the arm and said, “Look at that big guy over there, Paul Baroncelli. He weighs about 220 pounds.
He has already made the football squad, and he’s only a freshman, like you. And there are a half-dozen football players as big as he is who can put the shot better
than he can.”
I watched Baroncelli with no form whatsoever effortlessly toss the iron sphere an easy 15 feet beyond the puny dent my
best effort had left in the clay.
“What I need are guys tough enough to get out there and run hard for a long time. I need guys who can take punishment
without caving in. If I can find five guys like that, I promise that I’ll make champions of them. We’ll win the BMWs.
Do you think you’re tough enough?”
In those days anybody who knew anything about track knew that BMWs were not German automobiles but the Bronx-Manhattan-Westchester
Track Championships. Mister Borck had me hooked . . . and he wasn’t just blowing smoke about the BMWs.
In our senior year, we cleaned up.
Read the rest of Joe’s memoir of 50 years on the road in our July/August issue.
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part VI of this reprinted edition of Clarence DeMar’s autobiography. DeMar on the lecture circuit preaches balance
and moderation.
Public speaking and Marathon running don’t necessarily go hand in hand. But after the 1922 B.A.A. race I was invited
to make a speech which let me in for fifteen years of platform appearances in schools, churches, clubs, Y.M.C.A.’s, jails
and C.C.C. camps. For one who usually doesn’t talk very much I seem to have given my vocal chords quite a bit of
exercise. The funny part about this speech making is that I have been invited back to the same place in several instances.
One of the most thrilling occasions was when I first spoke before a High School. This was in Berlin, N.H., in the fall of
1924. The filled hall, the enthusiasm of youth, the eagerness with which they listened to anecdotes about running, and their
applause at the finish of a talk that was not too long, quickly convinced me that my favorite audience is a Junior or Senior
High School.
There is one other place besides a school where I have always been sure of a well-filled hall, and that is in jails!
Twice I have spoken before the State prison at Charlestown and once before the Reformatory at Concord. At
Charlestown I thought the audience was a little cool. There was something of the atmosphere of a church service.
But I was invited back a couple of other times. After the talk, one prisoner spoke to me because his brother was a
famous half-miler. At least, I’ve never found any well-known runners there. And it is a claim of many that no good printers
ever go to jail. So as a runner and a printer perhaps I’m fairly safe!
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
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Volume III | Number 5 | September/October 1999
Departments
Editorial
Walk Before You Run
Richard Benyo
No, this isn’t another commentary on running vs. walking marathons. In fact, this piece isn’t about walking at all. Rather,
I want to make some observations and gentle suggestions regarding the tried and true admonition to “learn to walk before
you run,” specifically applied to the often tragic tendency of normally sensible people who take up a running program with
the marathon distance as their first race. Ouch! It hurts even to type that concept into a sentence. And I can already feel
the points I want to make battling each other like a handful of eels straining to be the first through the funnel. Freighted
with so many things to say, rather than strain manfully to hammer this Editorial into some sort of sensible outline, I’ll take
the easy way out and run through my observations in a list fashion, in no particular order.
Continued in the September/October issue
On the Road with Scott Douglas
A Hard Sell
Peace on earth to people of good will. Still, despite the best of intentions, occasionally one’s efforts are simply doomed
to failure, and others should be allowed to note this without being nailed as a nattering nabob of negativism.
In March, the creation of Running USA, a self-described “partnership between USA Track & Field and leading entities of
the road running sport,” was announced. The purpose of Running USA—take a deep breath—”is to elevate the sport of
road running on a national level through enhanced media outreach, improved communication with corporations and funding
sources, support for development programs to get U.S. athletes to a world-class level and expanded services to events
and runners.” To date, the group’s subsequent pronouncements have been similarly vague. To justify his organization’s
$50,000 contribution, USATF CEO Craig Masback, showing his mastery of exec-buzzspeak, has said, “Running USA
will allow the leading races to use their collective strength to take the sport to a new level.” Well, that clarifies that, doesn’t it?
Promote it, and they will come, Running USA seems to be saying. “We will for the first time enable the sport to flourish
and compete on a national level with other professional sports,” the group’s executive director claims. Quick, though:
raise your hand if you saw Ishtar or liked New Coke. One running geek’s experiences with three world-class road races,
seen from three vantage points, in the weeks after the formation of Running USA suggest that the group is marketing a
soap that simply won’t wash.
Can Running USA bring track and field to TV stardom? Read what Scott has to say about that
in our September/October issue.
My Most Unforgettable Marathons (And What I Learned From Them): 1983 NYC Marathon and
1987 London Marathon
Priscilla Welch
When I was asked to write an installment of My Most Unforgettable Marathon, although I wanted very much to do it,
I found that picking one race to highlight was worse than hitting the Wall. Many of the marathons I’ve run are unforgettable
because they were so different from one another—they were on different courses, in different parts of the world, at
different stages of my career, at different levels of competition, and had different impacts on me personally and
professionally as a runner. The editors and I finally compromised that I could make two choices. (Between you and me,
I thought 3,000 words on one race would get dull for you. The editors said, no, it wouldn’t be dull at all—but I figured
you’d rather get two for the price of one anyway, right?) So, without further ado, here are my accounts of two very
different marathons—the 1983 New York City Marathon and the 1987 London Marathon—each of them unforgettable.
Don’t miss Priscilla’s compelling story about two great races in her storied career.
Steamtown Marathon
Double Your Runners, Double Their Fun.
This northeast PA race is quickly becoming many marathoners favorite event. If you
haven’t picked out a fall marathon yet, check out Steamtown. But act fast–the race has a
2,500 runner limit and is filling fast. Check out the September/October issue for the
our Steamtown profile.
Letters
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions. This month’s question:
“I’m looking into training for my first marathon in October. Currently I run and lift weights regularly.
I was wondering what type of weightlifting is recommended during marathon training?”
Our experts answer this question in our September/October issue.
About the Authors
Among this issue’s authors are Michael Sandrock, Gail Kislevitz, Jackie MacDonald,
Mike Lundgren, and Woody Green.
Features
High Expectations
The Truth About Altitude Training Dispels Myth and Seeks the Science.
Woody Green
In his article, Woody explores the science and practice of altitude training.
Learn what the experts say, what the coaches and athletes say, and how you can “live high
and train low,” without moving to the mountains.
New England’s Secret Marathon
One of the Most Laid-Back Marathons in the Country Turns 20 This Year.
Gail Kislevitz
The autumn magic of late September turns southern New England into a picture book that draws tourists from across
the country. The weather can go either way, but either way is wonderful: remnants of summer’s warmth or a hint of the
stereotypical crisp autumn day, either perfect for a hike through the country roads winding through a kaleidoscopic world
of rich colors as the leaves make their annual change. Nature lovers yearn to take just one more walk along the New
England beaches before the golden reeds turn silver with morning frost.
Late September is also the time of year when a small contingent of in-the-know runners from around the world converge
on East Lyme for one of the most beautiful, and underexposed, marathons in the country.
Like its ancient trees, running has deep roots in this part of Connecticut. The names of Ellison “Tarzan” Brown, Clayton
“Bud” Farer, Norm Higgins, John J. Kelley, Amby Burfoot, and John Vital are carved deeply into the bark of these
woods.
Yet, ironically, with so much marathon tradition lodged in the local heroes, getting to a marathon was quite a proposition.
It meant traveling to Boston, Washington, D.C., New York, or beyond. Most of the local mid-packers weren’t fast
enough to qualify for Boston, and it was too expensive to travel far afield. One local runner, though, had a plan to change
all that. Continued in our September/October issue.
A frequent M&B contributor, Gail unveils one of the best marathons in the country–Connecticut’s East Lyme
Marathon.
The “Greening” of a Marathon
Kansas City’s Marathon Has Gone Through Several Evolutions; the Most Recent the Most Striking.
Mike Lundgren
Here’s how one midwest marathon turned its event into a celebration of environmental
preservation. Learn steps you can take to “green” your own event.
Running in Paradise
Nobody Gets the Blues at the Moorea Blue Marathon in French Polynesia.
Michael Sanrock
When Captain James Cook arrived at the South Pacific island of Moorea on April 17, 1769, he sailed his ship,
the Endeavour, into a long, well-protected harbor beneath a tropical green mountain and laid anchor. As soon as his
crew tied the Endeavour to some of the tall coconut trees lining the shore, hundreds of rats rose out of the bowels of the
ship, ran down the ropes onto land and disappeared into the flowering forest.
I thought of the doomed captain and his ship as we ran around the edge of what is now called Cook’s Bay at the 18-mile
mark of the 11th annual Moorea Blue Marathon this past February. Just past the rock where locals say the Endeavour
first anchored, I was forced to walk, slowed by the humidity, warmth, and a too-quick early pace. Feeling like one of
Cook’s waterlogged rats and ready to abandon the race, I looked around for some foliage to hide in.
Instead, I found Mrs. Fitzgerald. She lived nearby and was watching her first marathon.
“Here you go, honey, this will make you feel better,” she said, handing me a sliced-open pineapple. “It’s straight off the
farm.”
Thanking her, I stuffed my mouth full of the sweet fruit, then began shuffling off. She grabbed my arm, saying, “Hold on.
You’re on Moorea; nobody rushes here.”
Mrs. Fitgzerald was right. The leaders in the marathon, Eddy Hellebuyck (then of Belgium, now of the United States),
Kenyan Jacob Kirwa, Tahitian Georges Richmond, and Dominique Chauvelier of France were long gone. The leading
women, Tammy Slusser of the United States, Austria’s Ulricke Ouchner, and Gitte Karlshobj of Denmark, had also
disappeared up the road, along with scores of other runners. I was running only to finish, so indeed, what was the big
rush? Why not take a break, hydrate, eat some more sweet fruit, and learn a little local lore with a new friend? After all,
isn’t that what a vacation marathon is for?
Join Mike for the conclusion of his Polynesian get-away. You’ll be packing your bags for Tahiti when
you’re done reading his piece.
To get your own copy, of the September/October 1999 issue,
Subscribe to
Marathon & Beyond today.
Cautionary Tales
Intimations from a Would-Be Marathoner
Jim Whiting
A humorous look at one man’s attempt to run a marathon.
Specialist Specific
There’s No Such Thing as a Good Injury—Only a Good SportsMed Specialist to Cure It.
Jacqueline A. MacDonald
Most runners know the withdrawal symptoms that come with being injured: moodiness, jitters, excess undirected
energy, guilt. When injured you’d give almost any material possession for a cure. And yet too often runners rely on
self-diagnosis rather than consulting with a specialist. We fear being told not to run, which is often the typical prescription
from a family doctor. But if you find the right specialist before your minor ache becomes a full-blown injury, you may be
able to keep training and speed the healing process. Shouldn’t finding a good sports medicine specialist be more important
than finding a good auto mechanic? We’re dealing with your body here, and with your passion. Yet many runners wait too
long to find a specialist they trust.
I recently learned the hard way that any ol’ doctor will not do when it comes to treating running injuries. My odyssey in
search for a cure began when my trusted sports podiatrist died. This podiatrist had kept me running injury-free in a pair of
custom-made orthotics for five years. I had begun to believe I was invincible. But when I let my orthotics wear down
before going in for a tune-up, all my old injuries began to flare at once: runner’s knee, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis.
In a rush for a cure, I made an appointment with the first doctor I could find— not a running specialist. To make a long
story short, I continued training without proper treatment; my injuries got worse and set off a string of new inflammations
that sidelined me for the entire spring racing season. As the injuries progressed, I consulted with other specialists who
lacked experience with runners—a chiropractor who prescribed more cooked vegetables, a podiatrist who worked
primarily with diabetics and could not figure out how to adjust my orthotics properly—further delaying the healing.
I am now on the verge of a cure with help from a sports podiatrist, orthopedic surgeon, and physical therapist experienced
in helping runners, but I could have saved months of down time and hundreds of dollars had I consulted with these experts
in the first place.
How can you avoid making a similar mistake if you’re injured? How can you figure out which type of specialist you should
see to treat your specific injury? How do you find one near you who is qualified to work with runners?
A variety of medical and related professionals can help you with your injury: podiatrists, orthopedists, sports medicine
physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, massage therapists, sports chiropractors. Which type of specialist you
should see will depend on the nature of your injury, but there’s a large overlap among some of the professions. In some
cases, a team involving more than one type of specialist may be necessary. The information that follows tells you which
injuries different professionals can treat and what special expertise and treatment methods they can offer.
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The Search for Breal
The Marathon As We Know It Was Created by Michel Breal. Who Was He and Where Was the Original Prize?
Karl Lennartz
World-famous sports historian Karl Lennartz searches for the original Olympic Marathon
Trophy with the gusto of deepsea diver searching for lost treasures.
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part VII of this reprinted edition of Clarence DeMar’s autobiography. The Boston Legend moves
out of his prime but still racks up amazing victories in his “old age.”P>
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
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Volume III | Number 6 | November/December 1999
Departments
Editorial
The Adventure Gene
Richard Benyo
The problem with editing a magazine as opposed to a more instantaneous media is the built-in lag time (known in the trade
as “long-lead deadlines”) between when the material is produced and corralled and when it actually reaches its readers.
Many steps intrude: editing, proofing, film prep, proofing of bluelines (a “quick print” version of the magazine pages the
printer puts together to catch last-minute glitches), printing, binding, gluing/stapling, labeling, and, finally, shipping. One of
the results of the lengthy process is that I’m writing this editorial on July 21 for the November/December issue, which
you’re not reading until mid-October at the earliest. By that time the snows will have moved into many of the northern
states and Canada, the fall marathon season will be in full swing, the daylight hours will be abbreviated, and the prospect
of running in 120-degree temperatures will be limited to those who run in health club saunas.
Continued in the November/December issue
On the Road with Scott Douglas
The Web and Running: A Chat Room Discussion
So many screens bring us so much information so quickly that it is indigestible, intellectually and emotionally.
We know more and understand less, we react more and reflect less, we do more and accomplish less, we hear more
and listen less, we look more and see less, we go more places and travel less, we talk more and say less.–Slate magazine, 1999
A thousand guegawes and toyes have they in their chambers, which they heape up together, with infinite expence,
and are made beleeve of them that sell them, that they are rare and pretious thinges, when they have gathered them upon
some dunghill.—Thomas Nashe, 17th century
How is the Web changing running?
In the same way it is changing many other things—recasting the notion of timeliness, vastly increasing access to information,
enabling connections among geographically dispensed people, and so on.
Is this good or bad?
Both, of course. For example, what fan doesn’t love being able to get same-day results from races around the world?
During the European track season, I’ll bet I’m not the only one here who checks in from work on the IAAF site for updates
throughout meets. Also, if you count e-mail as an integral part of Web culture, most of us would agree that being able to
fire off missives to runners around the world is a plus. (I know I delight in letting Pete Pfitzinger know how much faster his
1984 Olympic teammate John Tuttle is than he is these days.)
Those same benefits are negatives for others. Certainly magazines with three-month lead times are struggling with how to
make their race results sections relevant. You’ll hear some say, “People just want the information; it doesn’t matter how
you get it to them.” That’s technological naivete of the highest order, and it ignores what Neil Postman calls a technology’s
ideology—what assumptions about the world a technology encourages you to have, what infrastructure the technology
encourages users to favor, and so on. That is, a car isn’t just a faster way of getting around than a horse or a bike.
It’s a wholly other mode of transportation that changes what we think a normal trip distance and traveling speed are and
that, in large part, has caused us to reorder our society around the auto.
Follow Scott as he discusses running on the Internet in his “chat room.”
My Most Unforgettable Marathon (And What I Learned From It): Everest Marathon
Jurgen Ankenbrand
This race must be the only running event in the world where runners have to walk 16 days to reach the starting line,
which happens to be at 17,000 feet.
Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
The Inaugural Running Leaves Participants Squealing with Delight.
It would be easy to give the pudgy, pink, curly-tailed pig all the credit for the success of the Cincinnati Flying Pig
Marathon. The little porker was a brilliant marketing shtick, and many participants admit the pig thing piqued their interest
and led them to Cincinnati for the inaugural running this past May. Even Marathon & Beyond—which had yet to profile a
first-time marathon—couldn’t resist the appeal, and off we flew to Cincy, too.
But if a pig attracted us to the race’s first running, the top-to-bottom excellence that we found at the event will keep us
coming back for years to come. Yes, the race had an irresistible gimmick, but the city of Cincinnati and the race’s creative
and experienced race managers and board—headed up by Mike Boylan, Kelly Weissman, and Rich Williams—delivered
the goods, orchestrating a memorable and high-spirited weekend. The Flying Pig Marathon emphatically put itself on the
Marathon Map in 1999. Do pigs really fly in Cincinnati? You bet!
If you weren’t among the participants this year, you’ll want to read this article to see what all the squealing
was about.
Letters
Readers weigh in with their thoughts on the “charity runner” debate.
On the Mark
Experts answer readers’ training and competition questions. This month’s question:
“I’m currently running in Lahore, Pakistan. The air here can sometimes be quite polluted. I’m wondering how running
in these conditions affects my muscles. Any ideas?”
Our experts answer this question in our November/December issue.
About the Authors
Among this issue’s authors are Jim Whiting, Bernie Green, Deke Houlgate, Dan Horvath,
and Barry Lewis.
Features
The Last Continent
Remote, Harsh, and Uninhabited, the Bottom of the Earth Lures the Curious and Adventurous.
Here’s our introduction to a three-article special section on the Antarctica Marathon.
Endurance, the tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 expedition to reach the South Pole by traveling across
the Antarctic continent, has enjoyed steady sales since its publication in 1959. Within the last two years, however, the
stirring tale has taken on a new life. The book tells of how Shackleton brought his men out to safety without losing a single
man after their boat became trapped in the ice and crushed.
Lately, sales of Endurance have skyrocketed. A deluxe collection of the incredible photographs from that expedition has
been selling briskly. An exhibit on Shackleton in New York drew tens of thousands of visitors. And the inevitable
Hollywood attention to cultural phenomena has clicked in: a film on Shackleton’s adventures is in the works by director
Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot).
Shackleton’s incredible voyage benefits, certainly, from the recent interest in true-life
adventures (e.g., Into Thin Air, The Perfect Storm) but also gets a boost from the increasing speed and reach of
communications, which frighteningly winnow down the dark (and fascinating) corners of the universe that still feature an
element of the unknown and that are difficult to reach: deep space, deep sea, the bottom of the Earth.
A trip to Antarctica involves an experience not unlike a multistage rocket trip to the moon: a flight to Buenos Aires,
another flight to Ushuaia, a sea voyage around the Horn in a Russian icebreaker, and, finally, landing by Zodiac on an alien
land with no indigenous peoples. This remote land sees only visitors who are there for purposes of research. When they
venture forth, during much of the year they must don suits not unlike those an astronaut would wear to traipse the dark
side of the moon.
The lure of a seventh (and final) continent on which to run a marathon was just too alluring for runners to resist. Now, in
this issue, you have a chance to share their incredible experiences. So, turn up the heat, add a few extra layers of clothing,
brew some hot tea, settle into a comfortable armchair, and join us for a unique running adventure on the last continent!
The Plight of the Penguin
On a Trip to the Bottom of the World, All Things Achieve a Proper Perspective.
Jim Whiting
A solitary penguin perched forlornly halfway up the side of a tiny iceberg while a marauding leopard seal swam
restlessly back and forth at the base, pausing every so often to glare at the Zodiac inflatables hovering nearby.
of the beauty of nature. While everyone’s sympathies lay with the flightless bird, the waves breaking on the iceberg,
coupled with a great deal of respect for what more than a half-ton of enraged seal might do to the boats, compelled us to
maintain a healthy distance and refrain from interfering in this drama as ancient as animal life on the planet.
We were just offshore from the Argentine station at Hope Bay, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Earlier that day a sudden storm had
blown spray almost horizontally across the bow of the Akademik Ioffee, the chartered Russian research vessel that had been our home
for several days. Falling snow had accompanied our landing an hour earlier; now, heading back to the ship, several inches of white stuff
had accumulated.
Continued in our November/December issue.
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Run Antarctica
A Guide to Getting There and Back in One Piece (More or Less)
Jeff Horowitz
So you’re going to run the Antarctica Marathon? Here’s an article that will give you
all the nitty gritty: how to get into the race, what to read ahead of time, what to bring,
how to survive the dreaded Drake Passage, what to wear in the race, and much more.
The World’s Toughest Runner
Pat Rummerfield Had Been a Quadriplegic Since 1974. What Was He Doing Running Antarctica?
Deke Houlgate
Logistics were so difficult that there was talk the Antarctic Marathon might not be attempted again for years—
if ever again. The prospect of something else being taken from him ran through the mind of Pat Rummerfield as he sat
by helplessly on the Russian ship Iothe on February 17, 1997, less than a mile from shore, within sight of the start of the
amazing race at the bottom of the world.
The Antarctic Marathon is possibly the most difficult race on earth. Pat originally heard about the race while in Atlanta
for World Team Sport participation in the Paralympics in August of 1996. He raised the $3,500 necessary to go on the
junket from corporate sponsors and spent a lot of time raising pledges from other corporate and individual sources to
benefit one of his favorite charities, the Injury Prevention Center at Washington University of St. Louis, where he works.
Pat had come all the way from St. Louis to run this damned marathon, and here he was, after overcoming so much, about
to miss the whole show.
The Russian sister research vessel had unloaded its 50 or so passengers during a window in the heavy sea conditions
onto Zodiak landing craft. But the remaining entrants from a field of 81 marathoners and 19 half-marathoners were
parked about a quarter-mile farther out, where 20-foot swells made it impossible to safely launch a Zodiak.
In reality, Pat Rummerfield had come a lot further than mere miles could measure. Since September 20, 1974, he had
been classed as a quadriplegic, unable to move his arms or his legs. Now, in 1997, he had become one of the rarest of
human beings: a recovering quadriplegic. He had regained the use of arms and legs to the point he was ready to run the
toughest of all marathons unassisted.
Join Pat for the conclusion of his unprecedented run in Antarctica in our November/
December issue
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Freezer
A Tale of Two Marathons
Bernie Green
A humorous look at one man’s first two marathons.
To get your own copy, of the November/December 1999 issue,
Subscribe to
Marathon & Beyond today.
Six Fifty-Two
The Quest to Break Three Hours Demands Dedication and Focus..
Dan Horvath
Six minutes and 52 seconds. For 11 years, these numbers had burned in my psyche. Six minutes and 52
seconds—the pace per mile I would need to run to break three hours in the marathon.
Why three hours? Partly because three hours was my Boston Marathon qualifying time. But also, for me, three hours
was a personal quest: my Mount Everest, four-minute mile, first step on the moon.
For 11 years I trained and ran, trained and ran, always falling short. I came close. I did a 3:04 in 1978, just two months
after doing a 3:10, but my prize eluded me. I began to feel I had a regular date with the Wall. Every race, around the
20-mile mark, there we were again, meeting like old pals. Of course this was not a pal I valued, and I tried many times
to break our date, but he’d have none of it.
In the midst of the second running boom, average and median times for runners completing marathons have soared.
In the initial running boom of the 1970s and early 1980s, most of the runners in big-city marathons would have finished
by about 3:30. In the late 1990s, however, as the participation has skyrocketed, so have the times. Many runners are still
on the roads at 4:30.
In my view, there’s nothing wrong with running just to finish. In fact, finishing should be the goal of most first-time
marathoners. Some, however, still do aspire to certain time goals. These goals vary by individual, but times that end in
zeros are popular yardsticks. Three hours is tough. To run 26 consecutive 6:52 miles is quite a task for most non-elite
runners. Yet it can be done. All that’s required is the right training and mental attitude. Nice race conditions are helpful,
as well. I’ll describe what worked for me—maybe it will work for you, too.
If breaking the 3:00-hour barrier has been one of your goals, this article will offer
valuable training insights for doing so.
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Life at the Sands
Life and Near-Death Amidst the Burning (and Freezing) Sands: Marathon des Sable
Barry Lewis
This article, our longest feature ever, chronicles the drama of the 1998 Marathon
des Sables, a 7-day, 142-mile stage race in the Sahara. Author and race participant
Barry Lewis will make you feel like you’re IN the race with him and leave you wondering,
as he did, “what was I thinking?” Not to be missed! Here’s a clip:
It had been a long week, and although several hours earlier a part of me had been looking forward to the long trek,
the midafternoon heat of the Sahara desert was wearing me down. I was less than halfway through the 76-kilometer stage
and struggling with a bad stomach and a pulled groin muscle. My feet were beginning to blister and swell. I looked into
the sea of sand ahead of me, saw the stratified hills that signaled its end, and realized that there I would begin another
interminable climb.
The scene seemed all too familiar, and as my mind raced backward to an old film I had seen just before leaving for
Morocco, I realized why. Starring Gene Hackman, Max Von Sydow, and Catherine Denueve, March or Die was one
of those post-WWI French Foreign Legion epics in which the undesirables of French society were sent to the same
desolate region of the world upon which I was now treading. In the film, the motley band of legionnaires were here to
avoid jail time or worse, commissioned to protect an archeological dig from the marauding Arabs who made the desert
their home. They marched endlessly through the elements with packs on their backs, suffering from dehydration, nausea,
sunstroke, and severe blistering. When they faltered, they were abandoned right where they fell.
Me, I had an honest job with an exciting future in the modern world, yet I had thrown my hat into the ring with 500 others
from 30 countries to willingly experience the deprivation the legionnaires had been forced to endure. I was participating in
what race organizers call “the toughest footrace in the world,” the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands).
Knowing it would be dark long before I reached camp—if I reached camp—I wondered if my fate would be the same as
the characters in the film who had the misfortune to interpret the commandant’s words in the literal sense. “In the Legion,”
he said, “you march, or you die.”
The conclusion of this article appears in our November/December issue.
Special Book Bonus
Marathon
Clarence DeMar
Part VIII–the conclusion of Clarence DeMar’s autobiography. DeMar’s life as a teacher
and his reflections about his long running career.
Every runner should read Clarence DeMar’s autobiography.
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